Cheese Scones as featured in Wolds Scene Magazine Summer 2016

For this latest edition of Wolds Scene, I thought we would go “savoury” with a good old fashioned Cheese Scone

I use a recipe from my “All about Buns and Scones” leaflet, dated 1953, produced by the Stork Margarine Cookery Service.

The Stork brand launched in 1920 and was from the outset way ahead of its time. Marketed as a “fat enriched with vitamins”, well before the term “functional foods” was used. In the 1940’s they formed the Stork Cookery Service, producing wartime booklets advising housewives how to use their rations wisely. In 1954 the “Art of Home Cooking” paperback sold in the tens of thousands and was popular for forty years, so much so they published an updated 40th Anniversary edition in 1994. I have a set of booklets with stylised 1950’s illustrations that are bound together in a little folder titled “The Stork Wives Club”. When it launched in 1956 there were 191, 000 members, by the mid 60’s they had quarter of a million!
This is a useful recipe for all types of scone, if you want to make them sweet just leave out the cheese and add in 3 oz dried fruit and 2 oz sugar, keeping the base recipe the same and the method.Cheese Scones

8oz Plain Flour

1 level tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

2 level tsp Cream of Tartar

½ tsp of Salt

1 level tsp English Mustard Powder

1 oz Stork Margarine (block) Cut into small cubes

¼ Pint Milk or Buttermilk

4oz Strong Cheddar or Lincolnshire Poacher, grated

Little bit of milk for glazing

Method

Preheat oven to 200c

Line a baking tray with baking parchment

Sift the flour, salt, bicarb’, cream of tartar and mustard powder together

Rub in the margarine until it resembles breadcrumbs

Add in most of the grated cheese, reserving a little bit to sprinkle on the top

Mix in the milk all in one go with a broad bladed knife

As lightly as you can bring the mix together with your hands onto a floured worktop

Gently knead it to form cohesive dough

With your hands pat it into a circular round just over ½ inch thick. You need the thickness to give a good rise.

Using a 2” plain cutter, cut out scones and place on the tray. You should get around 8 in total